Autos Thread

JoeWras said:
But I really, really like the idea of Slate, and I'm seriously considering putting down the $50 after I press "Post Reply" on this posting. Mostly, logistics are an issue more than anything else (where will it be sold, serviced, etc.)
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JoeWras said:
Update: I decided to get in the Slate reservation line. I can blow $50 on a tank of gas or do this. Why not?
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This was posted 4 days ago on Jalopnik:

Slate Warranty Repairs

Summary: "Slate Auto, an American EV startup, intends to offer customers the ability to perform their own warranty repairs, a concept described as potentially the first in the auto industry. The company also plans to utilize a partnership with RepairPal for a network of independent shops and equip its app with a diagnostic code reader."

On one hand, it might make things more difficult, but on the other hand, it could be more convenient for the simpler repairs.
 
I figure I have about a 10% chance of buying one of these things. The timing may be right, so I figure I'll get in line. I have a tool van right now, that I might instead transform to something more spare in a few years. I really do like the idea of something basic and stripped down for that purpose.

I'm also all in on "right to repair," which supposedly Slate supports. I still do most of my own repairs, but it is easier on 2009, 2010 and 2011 vehicles than today's. Even there, I can see the complexity increase in those three years. I'm actually going to give away my 2010 to my grand-nephew and keep the 2009 because it is easier to work on. That's another story...
 
JoeWras said:
As an engineer, I agree with this. But it is also simplified, so I tried not to get too focused on this.

The other factors are marketing. The triangle presumes a clean input from marketing, but I don't think it is always this simple. There is complexity in what the market wants, what manufactures can provide, and for a price. The triangle of cost-quality-schedule leaves out "market."
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My mistake, project quality is a function of scope, time, and cost. Marketing input goes into the project scope. That’s simpler, but scope is the toughest one to get right!
 
ArmchairMillionaire said:
How have we, as a society, come to this?

What a small Toyota pickup used to be:

View attachment 61579
What a small Toyota pickup is today:

View attachment 61581

I saw one of these 2026 models in a parking lot while we were out of town today. What a hideous monstrosity of a small truck.

Amazing what 50 years can do...
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I found a photo of a side-by-side comparison of the new Tacoma and an older Toyota pickup in the same driveway:

Comparison.jpg


I'll take the one on the right please. :biggrin:
 
There's a thread on this site dedicated to the game Wordle™.

There's now a version of that game for car-lovers. It's called Cardle™.

It gives you a zoomed-in photo of part of a vehicle and you have to guess the make, model, and year. (they give you some wiggle room on the exact year)

It's at playcardle.com.

I just discovered it today. I failed today's quiz, though. I got the make and the year, but I had never heard of the model name before.

Apparently there's a UK version as well, but that one's a little wonky.

Anyway, good luck to all who enjoy this kind of thing!
 
ArmchairMillionaire said:
There's a thread on this site dedicated to the game Wordle™.

There's now a version of that game for car-lovers. It's called Cardle™.

It gives you a zoomed-in photo of part of a vehicle and you have to guess the make, model, and year. (they give you some wiggle room on the exact year)

It's at playcardle.com.

I just discovered it today. I failed today's quiz, though. I got the make and the year, but I had never heard of the model name before.

Apparently there's a UK version as well, but that one's a little wonky.

Anyway, good luck to all who enjoy this kind of thing!
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Meh, it would be interesting if it were classic American iron which O know pretty well. Newer stuff and/or foreign stuff doesn't interest me.
 
Tom52 said:
Meh, it would be interesting if it were classic American iron which O know pretty well. Newer stuff and/or foreign stuff doesn't interest me.
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Today's was a recent vehicle. Not all of them are.

Here's a link to the Autopian article where I found out about Cardle.

I'll check it out for a while to see if older stuff shows up. I, too, prefer the vintage vehicles, but I also like obscure '70s and '80s vehicles as well.
 
I already have enough frustration in my life. :facepalm: I think I'll skip Cardle but thanks for sharing the site.
 
Got in three again. The year on the first guess also. The badge on the fender sure helped. The image gets larger after each guess, right?
 
JoeWras said:
I figure I have about a 10% chance of buying one of these things. The timing may be right, so I figure I'll get in line. I have a tool van right now, that I might instead transform to something more spare in a few years. I really do like the idea of something basic and stripped down for that purpose.

I'm also all in on "right to repair," which supposedly Slate supports. I still do most of my own repairs, but it is easier on 2009, 2010 and 2011 vehicles than today's. Even there, I can see the complexity increase in those three years. I'm actually going to give away my 2010 to my grand-nephew and keep the 2009 because it is easier to work on. That's another story...
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Here's a link to an article about Slate doing winter testing up in Houghton, MI. (which is the snow capital of Michigan - over 200 inches annually)

And here's a photo:

Slate-testing-winter.jpg


So it already looks quite a bit farther along than that old Alpha Wolf that was promised a few years back.

There's also a video out there of one done up in a Jay Leno's Garage wrap with Jay Leno himself driving it around.
 
ArmchairMillionaire said:
Here's a link to an article about Slate doing winter testing up in Houghton, MI. (which is the snow capital of Michigan - over 200 inches annually)

And here's a photo:

Slate-testing-winter.jpg


So it already looks quite a bit farther along than that old Alpha Wolf that was promised a few years back.

There's also a video out there of one done up in a Jay Leno's Garage wrap with Jay Leno himself driving it around.
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Clearly Slate is run by a bunch of people who have never lived in snow country. I was honestly shocked when I learned they are actually going to try to sell a RWD truck. There is *nothing* they can do to make people buy a 2WD truck in Colorado and many other states. Honestly, I see maybe one or two 2WD trucks a year, and they always have TX/AZ/CA/FL plates on them.

Nothing like completely killing sales right from the start.

I had a 2WD truck when I moved to CO many years ago. I grew up driving in terrible RWD vehicles in the terrible Midwest winters of the late-70's. I swore that NO ONE NEEDED 4WD, they were just bad drivers. I lasted one winter before I sold that thing and bought a full-sized 4WD truck. I would have dumped it by February of the first winter, if I could have. Trust me, chaining up a truck in 20 inches of wet concrete ain't fun. Also, driving in snowy mountains with 2WD, where salt is not used for environmental reasons, and sand is barely used, is a completely different challenge than driving a flat grid of country roads in the Midwest where they scatter tons of salt and sand per mile.

Yes, tires are better these days, yes, traction control is wonderful, no, people do not want to deal with a RWD truck.

Period.

I hope "Job 2" is adding 4WD, or that truck is going to fail spectacularly.

BTW, if you have 2WD, you *must* chain up in Colorado now when they declare a chain up situation, or you get a ticket. You can't even legally drive in the mountains on a dry day with a 2WD vehicle unless you have chains in the vehicle. Even with 4WD/AWD, you can be ticketed if you don't have actual three-snowflake snow tires during a snow event.
 
flyoverstate said:
Clearly Slate is run by a bunch of people who have never lived in snow country. I was honestly shocked when I learned they are actually going to try to sell a RWD truck. There is *nothing* they can do to make people buy a 2WD truck in Colorado and many other states. Honestly, I see maybe one or two 2WD trucks a year, and they always have TX/AZ/CA/FL plates on them.

Nothing like completely killing sales right from the start.

I had a 2WD truck when I moved to CO many years ago. I grew up driving in terrible RWD vehicles in the terrible Midwest winters of the late-70's. I swore that NO ONE NEEDED 4WD, they were just bad drivers. I lasted one winter before I sold that thing and bought a full-sized 4WD truck. I would have dumped it by February of the first winter, if I could have. Trust me, chaining up a truck in 20 inches of wet concrete ain't fun. Also, driving in snowy mountains with 2WD, where salt is not used for environmental reasons, and sand is barely used, is a completely different challenge than driving a flat grid of country roads in the Midwest where they scatter tons of salt and sand per mile.

Yes, tires are better these days, yes, traction control is wonderful, no, people do not want to deal with a RWD truck.

Period.

I hope "Job 2" is adding 4WD, or that truck is going to fail spectacularly.

BTW, if you have 2WD, you *must* chain up in Colorado now when they declare a chain up situation, or you get a ticket. You can't even legally drive in the mountains on a dry day with a 2WD vehicle unless you have chains in the vehicle. Even with 4WD/AWD, you can be ticketed if you don't have actual three-snowflake snow tires during a snow event.
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I live in far-northern Wisconsin (a few hundred feet from Michigan's Upper Peninsula) and I've never owned a 4WD pickup. I've daily-driven a 2WD 5-speed GMC Canyon since 2016 and before that I daily-drove a 2WD 5-speed 1995 Chevrolet S-10. Before that, I had a 2WD 1967 C10 with a three-on-the-tree. With all three of those trucks I put 200-300 lbs. of winter weight in them to help with traction. I have no problem "dealing with" a RWD truck. I actually prefer them, especially when they have three pedals.

In the past, I've owned a 4X4 S-10 Blazer, a 4X4 K5 Blazer, and a 4X4 5-speed Chevrolet Tracker. None of them were all that great in the snow. Either the short wheelbases or peg-leg axles meant that I actually got stuck more in those vehicles than I ever did in my 2WD trucks.

I currently also own a 2003 GMC Envoy with General Grabber winter tires that is incredibly sure-footed in the snow. However, at 10 mpg, it gets less than half of the mileage that my Canyon gets, so we pretty just keep it for emergencies like if we get 8-10 inches of snow and we absolutely have to go somewhere before the plows have cleared the roads. Heck, the wife's FWD 2015 Cruze can still be driven just fine in 3-4 inches of snow - Any more than that, it starts pushing snow with the front air dam.

I also grew up with crappy RWD beater vehicles and learned to drive on them. But I understand I'm in the minority around here. We bought a 2024 Chevrolet Trax LS and that only came in FWD. You needed to get the Trailblazer in order to get AWD. Needless to say, for every Trax I've seen this winter, I've probably seen 30 or 40 Trailblazers. Not to mention all the 4X4 crew-cab trucks, Tahoes, Suburbans, Equinoxes, Traverses, Terrains, Acadias, Explorers, Grand Cherokees, etc.

If I did get one of those Slate trucks, I would definitely throw a few bundles of shingles in the box over the rear tires for weight. That's what I do in the Canyon, along with a snow shovel. If I ever do get stuck, (hasn't happened yet) I can shovel out what I can and most likely throw some shingles under the tires to get me moving again. If I don't end up with a Slate, I'd most likely look at a 2WD regular-cab Silverado with the 6-ft bed. Too bad 3-pedals are no longer an option.
 
ArmchairMillionaire said:
I live in far-northern Wisconsin (a few hundred feet from Michigan's Upper Peninsula) and I've never owned a 4WD pickup. I've daily-driven a 2WD 5-speed GMC Canyon since 2016 and before that I daily-drove a 2WD 5-speed 1995 Chevrolet S-10. Before that, I had a 2WD 1967 C10 with a three-on-the-tree. With all three of those trucks I put 200-300 lbs. of winter weight in them to help with traction. I have no problem "dealing with" a RWD truck. I actually prefer them, especially when they have three pedals.

In the past, I've owned a 4X4 S-10 Blazer, a 4X4 K5 Blazer, and a 4X4 5-speed Chevrolet Tracker. None of them were all that great in the snow. Either the short wheelbases or peg-leg axles meant that I actually got stuck more in those vehicles than I ever did in my 2WD trucks.

I currently also own a 2003 GMC Envoy with General Grabber winter tires that is incredibly sure-footed in the snow. However, at 10 mpg, it gets less than half of the mileage that my Canyon gets, so we pretty just keep it for emergencies like if we get 8-10 inches of snow and we absolutely have to go somewhere before the plows have cleared the roads. Heck, the wife's FWD 2015 Cruze can still be driven just fine in 3-4 inches of snow - Any more than that, it starts pushing snow with the front air dam.

I also grew up with crappy RWD beater vehicles and learned to drive on them. But I understand I'm in the minority around here. We bought a 2024 Chevrolet Trax LS and that only came in FWD. You needed to get the Trailblazer in order to get AWD. Needless to say, for every Trax I've seen this winter, I've probably seen 30 or 40 Trailblazers. Not to mention all the 4X4 crew-cab trucks, Tahoes, Suburbans, Equinoxes, Traverses, Terrains, Acadias, Explorers, Grand Cherokees, etc.

If I did get one of those Slate trucks, I would definitely throw a few bundles of shingles in the box over the rear tires for weight. That's what I do in the Canyon, along with a snow shovel. If I ever do get stuck, (hasn't happened yet) I can shovel out what I can and most likely throw some shingles under the tires to get me moving again. If I don't end up with a Slate, I'd most likely look at a 2WD regular-cab Silverado with the 6-ft bed. Too bad 3-pedals are no longer an option.
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As I said above, driving a 2WD truck in the mountains in winter is a completely different ballgame from tooling around in the midwest. I grew up there driving crappy 2WD cars, I have driven in the mountains for over 30 years, NO ONE buys a 2WD truck here other than the occasional urban delivery service.

The Slate is likely to weight 4000lb, and will have most of its weight in the center of the vehicle. It should go as well as any RWD out there, but that doesn't matter, because 4000lb RWD vehicles hate going up hills in snow, and people know it. Chain up for one winter, and you dump the RWD.

Since you mentioned the Canyon, I looked up how many 2WD Canyons are at dealers in CO. There are 163 4x4s and FOUR two-wheel drive, two of which are on the eastern plains. The market has spoken. Those splits are similar for every pickup truck, throughout the west. Heck, even in WI, there are 123 4x4s and TWO 4x2s.

Why in heck would Slate come out with a truck that targets 2-3% of the market? This is why I predict failure right out of the gate. They'll sell some in CA, but nearly every other state that accepts 2WD trucks is a state that hates EVs.

Of course, an AWD Slate would need a bigger battery, different motor controllers, a different motor or a complex gearbox system...and it would cost so much you might as well just skip it and get a hybrid Maverick AWD.

Give it two years. I'm guessing it will be a very low sales vehicle.
 
I was really having trouble with today's Cardle. After 4 guesses, all I had was the year. I left the computer to get something to drink, and I came back to this...
1772130143145.png


Huh??

Seems DW heard me struggling, used my laptop and Googled the image, and entered the correct answer for me.

I told her that was cheating, but she was just trying to help. :biggrin:
 
flyoverstate said:
As I said above, driving a 2WD truck in the mountains in winter is a completely different ballgame from tooling around in the midwest.
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I’ve had plenty of neighbors from the Midwest laugh at people in my area who get very unsettled when they have to drive on snow.

We have hills. Steep hills. Many go downhill for several blocks. The first time they find themselves sledding down an icy hill in there car, they find out reality doesn’t give a hoot about their snow driving skills
 
Today's Cardle was tough for me. My FIL used to have something similar, so I got the make and model (model was a guess) right away.

Couldn't figure out the year, though. I'm not all that familiar with that brand.

1772282813305.png


I even did a Google (lens) search of one of the initial images afterward and Google was off by 11 years.

So at least I'm not the only one. :biggrin:
 
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